Tensions Rise Between Turkey and Russia

Art+credits+to+Divya+Agrawal%21

Art credits to Divya Agrawal!

Lauren Patetta ‘17

Over recent weeks, Turkey and Russia have been at odds with each other over a Russian plane shot down in Syrian territory on November 24th. Turkey bears the responsibility for the incident, since it sent the missiles that caused the plane to crash. However, Turkish officials claim that they only did so because the warplane was flying over their airspace. Russia vehemently denies these allegations, saying that the plane was flying over Syria at the time it was shot down. Currently, no one is sure which side speaks the truth, and hostilities continue to rise between the two nations.

Before the crash occurred, Turkish representatives say they warned the Russian plane to change course ten times through an emergency channel, or risk being shot down. According to Turkey, the plane disregarded their warnings and continued to fly on the same path. In response, the Turkish military fired an air-to-air missile at the plane, and it crash-landed in Syrian territory. To support their claims, Turkey even published a radar image of the path the Russian plane was taking, showing it flying right over the tip of Turkey.

On the other side of the story, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the plane was always in Syrian territory, and never once flew into Turkish airspace. Furthermore, the pilot who survived the crash, Captain Konstantin Murakhtin, says he never once received warnings from Turkey to change directions.

Responding to Turkey’s radar images, the Russian defense ministry published a video with the plane’s path, which displays it staying solely over Syria. Russian air force commander General Viktor Bondare even claims that the crashed plane’s radar data displayed that the missile strikes were an ambush by Turkey.

Even before the crash, the two nations were at odds due to the issues in Syria. Russia supports President Assad and his regime there, while Turkey fully supports the Syrian rebels, who are fighting against Assad.

Link Brown ’16 finds that “This entire issue with the plane is only going to make progress in the Middle East and Syria more difficult. Now, we will have even more countries fighting each other.” The downed plane only intensifies the animosity between Turkey and Russia.

In response to the crash, Russia has already issued a list of economic sanctions against Turkey. These will have a negative impact on Turkey, since Russia is their second-largest trading partner. Along with the sanctions, President Putin refuses to speak the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan until Erdogan issues an apology. President Erdogan expressed sorrow at the incident, but refuses to grant the apology, and urges other nations to stand with Turkey and respect their right to defend their borders.

The United States has not done much to interfere with the dispute. However, military officials did admit there were indications that the plane had entered Turkish airspace despite warnings, but only for a few seconds at most. President Obama has also said that while Turkey does maintain the right to defend their airspace, the two countries need to try and communicate better to ease the strained relations.

Hannah Wilkinson ’17 commented on America’s role in this issue, stating, “America should probably remain passive about it right now. We’re allied with Turkey and don’t want to anger Russia at the moment. We can offer some support or sorrow for the actual crash, but until we know more we really can’t choose a side.”

Unfortunately, neither side has arranged to talk through this incident in a peaceful manner. Until progress has been made in communicating, tensions will only continue to grow between the two nations.